News
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045631 |
| Published date | 01 March 1998 |
| Date | 01 March 1998 |
| Pages | 161-165 |
| Author | George F. Colony,Emily Nagle Green |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
The electronic library scene
A new British Government-funded learning/teaching
information service is to be created under the aegis
of a consortium of the universities of
Stirling,
Napier,
and South Bank, together with Blackwell's
Bookshops and Blackwell's Information Services.
Project HERON (Higher Education Resources ON-
demand) aims to develop a national database and
resource bank of electronic texts which will widen
access to course materials and improve the quality
of learning throughout Higher Education in the UK.
The consortium received confirmation of over
£450,000 of funding at the end of April from the Joint
Information Systems Committee (JISC) part of the
Higher Education Funding Council (HEFC). The
development phase will start in August 1998, and
the objective is to make the service self-financing by
the end of Year 3.
HERON will invite Higher Education Institutions
(HEIs) to become subscribing members. Members
will then be able to request material relevant from the
HERON resource bank for clearance and digitization.
Member HEIs will also be able to deposit materials
belonging to
them,
such as lecture and course notes,
for wider use within the HERON resource bank, and
they will receive royalties on its
use.
All HEIs will be
entitled to use materials in the resource bank, and
they will receive royalties on its use. All HEIs will be
entitled to use materials in the resource bank, on pay-
ment of relevant usage charges.
As well as enabling academic staff to tailor recom-
mend reading to specific courses, the service will
also offer the student population access to reading
materials via paper course packs or online delivery.
In addition it will allow librarians to shift scarce
resources which are currently being allocated to
inflexible, traditional methods of text provision, wide-
ly recognised as being inadequate.
HERON will work with CLA (Copyright Licensing
Agency) and others to ensure that rapid and effec-
tive copyright-clearance mechanisms are in place
and that rights-holders receive a fair return.
Blackwell's Bookshops and Blackwell's Information
Services will be primarily responsible for publisher
liaison and marketing to the end users as well as
undertaking most of the system development.
Stirling,
Napier and South Bank universities will
pri-
marily be responsible for building the resource bank
of digital files.
• • •
Since the end of April of this year it's been possible
for visitors to the British Library to 'handle' some of
the BL's precious manuscripts in a new 'digital' way.
Thanks to an interface created by an in-house team
of software developers, it is possible to simulate the
turning of pages of valuable manuscripts onscreen.
The system won the Interactive Displays Award at
the 1998 BIMA (British Interactive Multimedia
Association) Awards held at the London Hilton on 30
March 1998.
Using animation and high-quality
digitized
images,
the
interactive device enables visitors to the new exhibi-
tion galleries in the British Library at St. Pancras to
'turn'
the pages of some of the treasures in the
Library's collection, including The Lindisfarne
Gospels, Diamond Sutra — the world's earliest print-
ed book — and Codex Arundel, a Leonardo da Vinci
notebook. Features of the display include a special
"mirror" button, reversing da Vinci's characteristic
"secret"
writing,
which is read from right to left.
Clive Izard, the BL's Head of Audio Visual Services,
led the project, which took 18 months to develop.
• • •
Through a new co-operative service agreement,
document orders sent to Chemical Abstracts
Service (CAS) will be filled either directly by CAS or
by referral to the British Library Document Supply
Centre (BLDSC). This combination of resources will
enable scientists and librarians to draw upon an
expanded collection of scientific and technical docu-
ments through CAS.
Malcolm Smith, director of Bibiographic Services
and Document Supply at the British Library
said,
"The British Library Document Supply Centre is
delighted to become a document supplier for the
Chemical Abstracts
Service.
We
receive more than 4
million document orders each year and this arrange-
ment will open our collections to even more
researchers."
• • •
Wired scholars are spending approximately 44% of
their office hours on the Net, and 56% of their time
on face-to-face and paper-based activities, accord-
ing to a survey conducted in late February 1998
among subscribers of seven electronic mailing lists
specialising in Asian and Pacific studies by acade-
mics at the Australian National University.
Forrester goes Dutch
Forrester Research has set up shop in Europe by opening its European
Research Centre in Amsterdam, Forrester Research B.V.. The Research Centre
will serve as a hub from which Forrester will assess and influence how emerging
technologies will affect the business developments taking place in the European
Union.
George F. Colony, president of Forrester Research, is quoted on the company's
Web site as saying, "In order to provide relevant analysis of the European mar-
ket, we believe we need to be an active participant in shaping it". Colony adduces
a "combination of US and indigenous European expertise" as key to the future
success of Forrester's beachhead in
Europe.
The Managing Director of Forrester
Research B.V., Emily Nagle Green, is eulogistic in her characterisation of
Dutch culture. "Amsterdam's history of diversity, original thought, and cultural
sophistication complement Forrester's innovative, forward-looking approach to
technology", she is quoted as saying.
NEWS
The Electronic Library, Vol. 16, No. 3, June 1998 161
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